


Devlin and Devlin?

by Merfilly



Category: Leverage, The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Ficlet Collection, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 15:35:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5671219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ficlets from both <i>Leverage</i> and <i>The Librarians</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Devlin and Devlin?

**Author's Note:**

> Ratings vary by ficlet

Nate tired hard to pretend like everything was under control, just like he did every time a con got out of hand. Granted, he was always good at leashing those back into place, adapting and rolling with the variables he hadn't been able to plan for.

But this was Sophie, and Sophie had always been able to upset his apple cart with her spontaneity and off the cuff improv. She was, honestly, the best actress in the world, until she thought she was acting.

"You what?"

He knew it sounded stupid, but it was giving him time to process her words, slot it in against the life he had mapped in his head, one where they stayed out of the cons.

"I took a job for us," Sophie told him. "Cruise ship, long-game," she added.

"Why?"

"Olivia."

Well, that was the piece Nate needed. He might still hold a deep grudge toward Sterling, but Olivia was worth forgetting that for now.

"Let's go steal a cruise."

+++++

The only warning they had was the candy canes. Eliot and Alec took one look at those, then each other, and their heads whipped toward the calendar. 

"We missed the Turkey warnings," Eliot growled. "Because we were in Australia."

"And now —"

"YAY!" Parker's cheerful voice preceded her bounding out of the storage closet with elf hats and assorted decorations in her arms.

"— it's her season," Eliot finished Alec's interrupted sentence.

"Come help me decorate!!!" Parker demanded, and both men had to just accept their sentence. Until a job came up, they were Parker's hench-elves for her favorite upcoming holiday.

+++++

Eliot was mostly asleep, and Parker was almost there. It made Alec half-smile, even as his body refused to wind down and let him catch the sleep he needed. Who could have known that this was the family he was aiming for all his life, even before he knew it? He watched Eliot's tension melt away, as sleep gave him comfort from the aches and pains.

There was a time when Eliot would only have cat-napped in their presence. Now, he trusted them enough to let himself truly sleep when he needed it. And Parker… getting Parker to move in had been a big deal. Alec was so pleased to have her here, to see her nestled in on Eliot's other side.

They all had what they needed, even if they'd never known what they had been looking for, and it was something Alec would protect to his dying day, just like Eliot.

+++++

Intimacy was defined in more ways than one, as each of the three had proven as they settled into their life together. Alec found himself fascinated by the way he felt cherished and loved by the way Eliot cooked and served their food. Parker had an amazing ability to bring him to the most vulnerable and open place in his soul simply by dropping down with her head in his lap to take a nap. He tried to give it back as best he could, learning when to stop tech-babbling at both of them, and actively listening to their explanations of how they had done something physical. 

He'd always thought a relationship was built around trust, love, and sex… but now he understood that last was just icing, when it happened for him. The real kicker to a relationship was in the sharing of the ordinary, at full volume between the partners.

+++++

"So how much of everything is really true?" Cassandra asked brashly, having been saved by Jenkins making a timely entry into the situation. The others just watched and waited, curious if he would answer her.

"Mallory? White? That… woman?" Jenkins nose wrinkled up at that author, though the retelling of the story hadn't been terrible. It had surprisingly grasped some of the hidden nuances. "All of it shameful mockeries and conflations of tales old before even Mallory came to existence," he said dismissively.

"Legends and myths often have grains of truth in them," Jake pressed.

Jenkins gave a rough bark of laughter. "You've met the grains of truth, Stone. All else is fantastic imagery wrought from the minds of common storytellers merged into one narrative." He gave his little smile at that and walked out, leaving them knowing as little about Jenkins as before.

+++++

Jenkins had reached his limit with being confused over the fascination with his posterior the Librarians had developed. And their Guardian, as Colonel Baird was currently the most recent offender.

"I am not a football player, nor are any of you — "

"—I played—" Stone interjected.

"—so I fail to understand why, in recent weeks, my posterior cheeks have drawn quite so much slapping attention." He glared at them all, as Ezekiel's grin was matched by Cassandra's shy smile, and Stone half-chuckled. Colonel Baird was all but laughing.

"It's for luck," Stone finally said. "You're our good luck piece. Didn't figure you'd be down with kissing, so we left it to friendly little… spankings."

They all began laughing, while Jenkins filed that away.

"Kissing would be less painful; the Colonel has a potent smack," he complained.

+++++

Jenkins contemplated the latest Clipping, looked at the door once more, and then sighed.

He was supposed to be safely retired to his Annex, studying and cataloging artifacts merrily.

That Clipping looked suspiciously like the work of a threat from his own time. But the Librarians were all in distant parts of the world, and Colonel Baird had accompanied Miss Cillian on her mission.

"Hi ho, off to slay a dragon. Proverbially speaking. Though she is the nastier of the sisters," Jenkins muttered. "Morgan can at least be seduced by others, or deals made by some, even outwitted by one such as I. But Morgause has a temper!" He snagged his sword-cane and headed out to do what needed doing.

+++++

Nate wanted to be cross. But how could he? Hardison had bought his building, just to be close. And the rest of the team had come. When had anyone cared that strongly, outside of Maggie, about him? 

Now, he watched as the three younger members argued over who sat where on the couch, which ended with Parker's feet in Eliot's lab, and Hardison as her back rest. It felt something like a family… and he was far too sober to chase that rabbit hole right now.

They were here, and that mattered. He'd cling to it, especially since Sophie was right here too.

+++++

Parker slid into the cockpit of the ship she'd been hired to steal, ready to cinch the deal. She just needed to feed the console the proper (forged) authority codes her client had provided her.

"Aww yeah," the ship computer said as soon as she had done so… in a voice that was a lot like her client's.

"Excuse me?" she demanded, ready to sprint for the airlock.

"Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you in person, Parker. I'm Hardison… and I needed you to steal me so I could escape IYS' grasp."

"Ooh I don't like them at all," Parker said. "So if you're my client, am I paid?"

"Sure are… and I have an offer for more," Hardison tantalized her. "Got a former IYS man at the end of this trip, one with inside info and leads on a team to start tearing them apart." When she looked skeptical, Hardison continued. "Lots of untraceable credit, just off the first job he's offering me. Want to be my brawn?"

Parker's eyes had lit at the mention of credits. "Sure… for now."

+++++


End file.
